Armed robbers have snatched $6.3m in smartphones, tablets and computers from the Samsung Electronics factory in São Paulo, Brazil.

The bandits got into the complex by carjacking a shuttle used by factory employees, and held workers hostage while clearing out truckloads of loot, Reutersreported a spokesman for the state’s public security secretariat as saying.

Seven assailants stopped the shuttle bus on its way to the factory and seized control of it, while their associates took six of the eight workers onboard away to a remote location, where they were set free.

The gang then took the other two employees to the factory where the crooks disarmed the security guards, and gathered all the workers together to ensure they couldn’t contact anyone.

Once they had taken over the factory, 13 more criminals arrived in the getaway trucks and used radios and mobiles to coordinate the lifting of the loot.

The gang managed to get away with seven trucks filled with over 40,000 Samsung products in a robbery that lasted four hours. Police are investigating but haven’t come up with any suspects yet.

Although the police had suggested the loot might be worth up to $36m, Samsung put the price much lower at $6.3m. The company said that around 50 employees were held hostage by the criminals.

"We have cooperated fully with the police investigation that is underway and will do our best to avoid any sort of repeat incident," said Samsung Eletrônica da Amazonia, the manufacturing unit of the Korean electronics giant in Brazil, in a statement. ®